L. abortivum
was first described by Swartz from Fontainebleu (France) in
1753 and its name refers to the the small size of the leaves and the manner in which they sheath the stem. Abortivum literally means aborted leaves.

This is a curious orchid
that still requires study in order to determine its precise biology.
Although widely regarded as a wholly saprophytic plant, there are
indications that it may (at least in part) be parasitic. Two factors
in particular serve to confuse the issue and these are firstly the
fact that the stem has been shown to contain
measurable levels of chlorophyll and secondly that the plant depends throughout its
existence on mycorrhizal fungus. L. abortivum needs little description as it is highly distinctive and impossible to confuse with any other type of orchid.

This
is a widespread species with a distribution from Belgium in the north,
North Africa in the south and at least as far as Russia in the east.
It does not occur in Britain and reaches the height of it's abundance
in the southern Mediterranean where it is predominantly found on
calcareous soils and usually associated with pine forest. This
close proximity to living pine trees is another link with possible
parasitism but as already mentioned, the physiology is not yet fully understood.

The species does have a few described variants but rather as with Anacamptis pyramidalis
these are largely colour forms
and of no particular evolutionary significance.
As can be seen from the illustrations there can be a range of
colour forms and all these pictures are from the same colony on the
island of Rhodes. They date from the first week of
April.